Even if you live in a city with a trusted public utility and water that tastes great right out of the tap, using a home water filter for drinking and cooking is a smart move for the health of your family. In the one of most comprehensive analyses of public drinking water utilities available, the non-profit Environmental Working Group ranked performance and safety of the utility and water supplies in America’s big cities (250,000 or more inhabitants). Even top ranked Arlington, TX had 15 different pollutants present in drinking water and exceeded health targets for 4 during the monitoring period. Lowest performing Pensacola, FL reported the presence of 45 pollutants and exceeded health guidelines for 21 of them. The U.S. Safe Drinking Water Act regulates acceptable levels of 91 chemicals that might come out of your kitchen faucet. However, there are more than 60,000 chemicals in use in the United States. Getting a chemical onto the SDWA list can take years of review, as we’ve seen with chromium-6, which has been under review by the Environmental Protection Agency since 2008. In the mean time, more and more communities have discovered this potentially cancer-causing chemical in their water supply. According to EPA, common sources of drinking water pollution may be human-caused or naturally-occurring and include the following:

Naturally Occurring

Human Activities

· microorganisms from wildlife and soils · radionuclides from underlying rock · nitrates and nitrites from nitrogen compounds in the soil · heavy metals from underground rocks containing o arsenic, o cadmium, o chromium, o lead, and o selenium · fluoride.

· bacteria and nitrates from human and animal wastes—septic tanks and large farms · heavy metals from mining construction or older fruit orchards that used heavy metal pesticides · fertilizers and pesticides used on crops or lawns · industrial products and wastes from o local factories o industrial plants o gas stations o dry cleaners o leaking underground storage tanks o landfills, and o waste dumps · household wastes, including o cleaning solvents o used motor oil o paint o paint thinner and more · lead and copper from household plumbing materials · water treatment chemicals, including chlorine and chlorine byproducts

To find out exactly what contaminants may be present in your water, you can contact your public water utility, which is required to publish an annual report for you, or consult the Environment Working Group tap water database.

EWG's Top-Rated and Lowest-Rated Water Utlities - 2009

TOP RATED WATER UTILITIES		LOWEST RATED WATER UTILITIES
1	Arlington, TX Arlington Water Utilities	100	Pensacola, FL Emerald Coast Water Utility
2	Providence, RI Providence Water	99	Riverside, CA City of Riverside Public Utilities
3	Fort Worth, TX Fort Worth Water Department	98	Las Vegas, NV Las Vegas Valley Water District
4	Charleston, SC Charleston Water System	97	Riverside County, CA Eastern Municipal Water District
5	Boston, MA Massachusetts Water Resources Authority	96	Reno, NV Truckee Meadows Water Authority
6	Honolulu, HI Board of Water Supply (Honolulu/Windward/Pearl Harbor)	95	Houston, TX City of Houston Public Works
7	Austin, TX Austin Water Utility	94	Omaha, NE Metropolitan Utilities District
8	Fairfax County, VA Fairfax Water	93	North Las Vegas, NV City of North Las Vegas Utilities Department
9	St. Louis, MO City of St. Louis Water Division	92	San Diego, CA San Diego Water Department
10	Minneapolis, MN City of Minneapolis Water Department	91	Jacksonville, FL JEA

A high quality water filter like the berkey home water filter can protect you from many of these chemicals and contaminants that are not being removed by your local water authority properly.